Antedating of "can't fight his way out of a paper bag"

[Jonathan Lighter]

In my day it was "wet paper bag."

JL


On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 7:26 AM, Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Antedating of "can't fight his way out of a paper bag"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "to be unable to fight (also punch) one's way out of a paper bag" (OED:
> 1955)
>
> ---
>
> Here's a May 1916 in Our Navy, the Standard Publication of the U.S. Navy
> ("Athletics: Will We Ever Have a Navy Champion?" by "Heinie", page 50):
>
> [Begin]
> About that time Luther McCarty, who had trimmed them all, looked good, but
> he collapsed in the ring with Arthur Pelkey. We won't say Pelkey finished
> him, because Pelkey can't hit hard enough to fight his way out of a paper
> bag.
> [End]
>
> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2872773;view=1up;seq=58
>
> ---
>
> A 1921 and 1922 here: http://english.stackexchange.com/a/132369/9001
>
> Hugo
>
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